The Shocking Truth
by cyndaquil
Summary: Why does Lum love a man that will always keep her at arms length.


Disclaimer: I do not own Urusei Yatsura. No profits will be made from this fan made work.

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**The Shocking Trut**h

"Excuse me! Have you seen my Darling?"

Lum flashed a picture of a boy wearing sunglasses and a surgeon's mask in front of some random woman's face. The woman politely turned her head to gaze at the picture, but was repelled by the strange choice of image. She scoffed and turned away, dismissing the green haired girl as one of Tomobiki's many weirdoes.

Frantically Lum flew toward the next nearest person, and asked him if she had seen the boy in the picture. This man tried to hit on her. His efforts were rewarded with a severe electric shock.

Jariten could not understand it. A month had already passed, yet Lum still refused to give up. He had given up on the idiot after the first hour. The pipsqueak was only there to keep his cousin from feeling lonely.

Four weeks ago Lum found a note on Ataru's futon. All it said was "I have some serious business to take care of." Rumours soon spread that he had shacked up with some girl. Few actually worried about him. His own mother simply enjoyed the peace. It was nice not having a human disaster magnet in her home. Even after all this time everyone just figured he would show up whenever it was least convenient to have him around. Still, by week three Shinobu, and the storm troopers joined in Lums search, and though he wouldn't admit it, Mendou had hired several private investigators to find Moroboshi.

Everyone continued to search, but none with the commitment that Lum showed. Whenever she showed anyone Ataru's picture hope would flash in her eyes. Whenever they said they hadn't seen him her disappointment seemed heavier than with the previous pedestrian.

Where could he be?

Suddenly the world was plunged into darkness. Every streetlight, and neon sign in the district simply shut down. Lum looked up as her eyes slowly adjusted to the light of the stars and moon. Around her was the excessive honking of horns from cars that no longer had street lights to guide them. Lum wondered if she could sense Ataru's presence in this darkness. He could be standing next to her and she wouldn't even know. For a brief second she hoped, but really she new he wasn't there.

Soon no one was on the street anymore, so Lum reluctantly decided to head home.

She flew high into the sky, then fell downward toward the Moroboshi home. Slowing her speed at the last moment she moved toward the window of Ataru's room. The alien girl opened the window with practiced ease.

Slap.

A slipper hit Lum in the face. "Close the window, it's cold out," A voice complained.

Lum's heart skipped a beat. She leapt into the air with joy, then circled the futon several times in flight, to confirm what she thought she saw. There, in bed, trying to sleep was Ataru.

Ataru was acting as though nothing was out of the ordinary, in hopes that Lum would avoid the issue of his disappearance. No such luck. After a few minutes basking in joy Lum quickly became angry.

"Darling! Where have you been all this time?"

"Didn't you get my note?" Ataru asked.

Lum slipped the note out of her cleavage, crumpled it up, and threw it in Ataru's face.

"Where have you been?" She demanded. "Were you shackled up."

Ataru chuckled slightly at how she said shackled instead of shacked. Lum was obviously repeating something she heard at school, and likely doesn't even understand what the phrase means.

The boy got up from his futon and touched his hand to Lums cheek. "You don't have to hold it in anymore." He said. He pulled the girl in and kissed her on the lips.

What does he mean don't hold it in? Of course she has to hold it in. Whenever Lums' emotions overwhelmed her, electricity just squirted out of her body. She never told him. Never told him that every time they touched she wasn't letting her feelings pour out, she was carefully holding the voltage inside. Never told him that enjoying a simple kiss, like a normal girl, could seriously injure him. She may act outgoing, running around in a bikini but Lum was secretly very inhibited. She knew she could not have a normal relationship. She loved Ataru, yet if he hadn't always kept her at arms length Lum would have left him for his own sake. She couldn't bear the thought of hurting him. Lum once hoped that Ataru would get used to the shocks but soon found there were limits to even his beyond human endurance.

Darling questioned the validity of there marriage enough already. What if she never gains enough control to ever… to ever… Suddenly she couldn't hold it in anymore. Amps of direct current flowed from her lips. A circuit was made through the hands that grasped his shoulders. Lum pulled back, realizing what she was doing. She was severely electrocuting him.

The girl jumped backwards. To her surprise Ataru was neither burnt nor in pain. His body had a soothing phosphorescent glow to it.

"Darling how…"

"Remember that blackout earlier. Don't tell anyone, but that was me testing the results of my training. I can now handle ten times more voltage than you can dish out."

"How?"

"It's a mushu. I picked it up in China." He explained. Ataru didn't want to admit that it was an animal mimicry of glow worms and electric eels. He new some people already saw him as a human worm or eel.

"China?" Lum starred at him inquisitively.

"Lum, I once followed you to the andromeda galaxy. I can get to China if I want. Anyway I've trained to the point where my body absorbs electricity automatically. There's no way your powers can hurt me. I'll just store the electricity, and glow it off over time. I'm not always as stupid as people think. I know you have trouble controlling your powers when we touch. Now it isn't a problem."

Lums heart was bursting with joy, and for once she held none of it back as she grabbed Ataru. She shocked him severely, but all Ataru felt was nourishing warmth filling and energizing his body. Lum held him tighter and tighter letting the electricity flow as though it were proof of her love.

As there cheeks crossed Ataru smiled a wicked smile. Ataru could do all the girl chasing he wanted without the fear of electrocution hanging over his head, and Lum is convinced he did this entirely for them.

The next morning Ataru left for school. He had a four week absence to make up for. Before leaving, Lum pulled him in for one more tender kiss. Once again his body glowed with eerie yet soothing phosphorescence.

He ran out the door, down the street, and grabbed the first babe he saw. It was a jogger in a pink T-shirt and cute gym shorts. The girl screamed, terrified of the seemingly radioactive creature latched onto her body. Then without warning a battle cry of "Darling no baka" could be heard as a huge mallet struck Ataru in the head and knocked him from the girls body. The runner wasted no time running away.

Lum flung Ataru over her shoulder in a fireman's carry and flew off into the sunset thinking of how nice it was to finally have a normal relationship.

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Okay, so I was wondering why Lum and Ataru's relationship progresses so slowly in the anime. Then I remembered in one episode Lum and Ataru slept together, but Ataru had to wear a protective rubber body suit. What if it was impossible for them to … Uh … you know? Maybe Lum needs Ataru to keep her at arms length but knows he won't totally reject her either. That would partially explain her strange taste in men. I don't really believe that is the case, but it was such a sad idea I thought I would try to give the problem a kind of happy solution.


End file.
